Improved automatic lathe for turning irregular forms



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' i 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

SAMUEL N. BAKER, oF NE'vvr HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

-IMPROVED AUTOMATIC LTHE FOR TURNING IRREGULAR FORMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.1 7,366, dated July 2Q, i857.

.To @ZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, SAMUEL N. BAKER, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements yin Automatic Lathes for turning articles ot wood, ivory, or' metal with moldings, beads, or other cony figurations on their surface in the section ofk theirlength to a specific shape or pattern; and

configurations upon the article being turned in the lathe to which the head is attached by revolving the pattern-dies against the cutters or by revolving the cutters against the patterndies and giving to the head containing the Cutters amotion in t-he line of the length v of the article being turned, for the purpose of giving to the article the required shape through the combined movement of the head and the cutters.

Figure l in the accompanying drawings is a front elevation of the cutter-head. Fig. 2 is an end elevation; Fig. 8, a plan, and Fig. 4 a back elevation, of the same. Fig. 5 is a longitndinal vertical section of the same, taken through the line :v x, Fig. l.

A is the bed-piece of the cutter-head, having lugs or projections on :its under side tted to slide upon the shears or ways of the lathe to which it is to be attached.

Bis a circular case secured to the bed-piece, having a flange projecting a short distance toward its center on its back side, against and upon the face of which flange are secured the pattern dies or guides B', which govern the shape and gure of the contguration to .be given to the article to be turned.

C is the cutter-plate, having hollow axles, which run in suitable boxes in the standards D D', upon' which it is rotated when needed. To the face of this plate are attached the series of chisell-pointed cutters E E E Ein clamps which permit them to have a motion to and from the line of the center of the plate. Each cutter is provided with a 'spring to keep its heel or outer end in Contact with the edge of the patterndie belonging to it. The outer edge ot` the back part ot' the cutter-plate is formed into cogged teeth F, to tit into the vertical worm-Wheel F,which wornrwheel is placed upon a shaft, to the lower end of which is attached themiter-wh'eel G.

H'is a miter-wheel gearing into the wheel G, secured to a horizontal hub which allows it to be thrown in and'out of gear by thc lever I, as may be required. The hub to which it is secured is bored out to receive a shaft which runs horizontally on the back part of the lathe, and which is of a length equal to the length of the latheways, and is driven and revolved from the lathemandrel or other attachment for thatpurposc. A feather in the hub of the wheel is fitted to a groove cut in the shaft, so that the wheel may be moved along on the shaft and be operated by it at any and every point at which it may be placed. A steadiment-plate equal in diameter to the largest projection on the article to be turned may be inserted in the aperture in the back ot the hollow axle of the cutter-plate to hold the article steady and prevent its shaking or trembling, and roughing or shaping cutters may be placed behind it to roughshape the article to size.

, For certain descriptions of work cutters of a circular saw shape and having cuttingteeth on their periphery may be substituted for the chisel-cutters described, the same being more durable than the single cutters, from the greater number of cuttingpoints brought in contact with the article being turned, so that they will operate for a greater length ot' time before becoming dnlled and before they require to be removed to be sharpened. They may be revolved on theirl axis either by a gear-wheel placed on the shaft which receives the pinion H or by belting from a countershaft, as may be suited best to the particular shape, and are moved in and out to follow the form otl the patterndie by having a stud or arm attached to the box in which they revolve, to operate as and in place of the heel of the cutters, as described'.

The operation of my improvement is as follows: The article to be turned being placed in the lathe and the cutter-head being placed on the lathe-shears close up to the standing head, motion is communicated to the lathe-mandrel and also to the shaft upon which the pinion H is placed. The cutter-head is moved toward the sliding head of the lathe by an attachment upon it working upon an endless screw operated by the lathe-mandrel or other means. The feed or motion of the cuttinghead upon the shears is adj usted in proportion to the size and nature ot' the material of the article to be turned and also to the configuration of the pattern required. The miterwheels are kept out of gear with each other while the cutters areturning the part of the article which requires to be plain and o" uniform size; but when the part is reached upon which the ornament, molding, or configuration is to be turned they are placed in guar and the cutter-plate C is rotated and the cutters upon it are moved toward and from the center, in accordance with the shape of the pat tern-dies against which their heels or outer ends come in contact, so that the feed-motion communicated to the cutter-plate and the speed at which the cutter-plate is rotated in proportion to the feed'given to it, combined with the particular shape given to the edges of the pattern dies, tend to form and give shape and pattern to the configurations to be turned, and that form and shape may be changed and varied either by changing the iignre of the pattern-dies or by altering the speed of the revolution of the cutter-plate or the speed of the feed-motion of the cutter`- head, or all of them combined, or either two without the other, so that a greatvariety of patterns may be turned by the use of one set of pattern-dies.

Ido not claim the use of cutters-moved and adjusted by a pattern die or guide to give shape, form, and figure to moldings or other configurations upon articles to be turned in a lathe; but

Vhat I do claim as my invention, and de sire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The use of a series of cutters secured to a cutting-head standing at right angles to the article being turned, the said cutters being operated by being revolved Within the circular case B, as and for the purposes set forth.

2. The use of a pattern guide or die, or of a series of them, placed at right angles to the article being turned within a circle struck from the center of the lathe and having a movement in the direction of the length of the lathe coincident with that of the cutters described, and against which the cutters in their revolution come in contact, as and for the purposes set forth. n

' 3. The use ofa sliding cutter-head containing both the cutters to perform the operation of turning and the pattern dies or guides to control the movements of the cutters, as described, and for the purposes set forth.

SAMUEL N.' BAKER. lVituesscs:

SIDNEY Low, FRANoIs S. Low. 

